The Blended Visa Office Referred (BVOR) program is a unique initiative of the Canadian government. Under this program, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) identifies refugees who are in urgent need of resettlement to come to Canada, and the Canadian government and sponsorship groups share resettlement costs.

The BVOR program has 1,500 openings for 2018, but the majority of them remain unfilled. A new fund has been created to facilitate the sponsorship of up to 1,000 refugees through the BVOR program. Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, qualifying Canadian groups will have the cost of sponsoring a refugee through the BVOR program fully covered by the fund.

If these spots are not filled by the end of the year, they will be lost. Applications are due by September 17.